Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.
An increase of Christmas records began charting Billboard in 1957. The popular music surveys charted 9 Christmas singles, including the debut of the Bobby Helms' standard "Jingle Bell Rock" (Top 100 Sides #6).[1] Gene Autry's newly recorded version of his 1949 original "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"[2] made the Top 100 Sides at No. 70.[3] The Best Selling Pop LP's had 11 seasonal albums chart including the debut of Elvis' Christmas Album that topped the survey for 3 weeks.
Bing Crosby's all-time best-selling single[4] "White Christmas" returned to the Top 40 again in 1957 at No. 34. It has charted Billboard's surveys almost annually since it first spent 11 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on their Best Selling Retail Records chart beginning Oct. 31, 1942[5] It reached the top spot again in 1945 for two more weeks and made its 14th #1 week on December 28, 1946.[6] Crosby's "Silent Night" (Top 100 Sides #54) and "Silver Bells" (Top 100 Sides #78) also made the Top 100 Sides in 1957. All 3 of these titles are included on his Merry Christmas which returned to No. 1 in January 1958 after charting Billboard's album surveys since its debut in 1945.
- ^ "Bobby Helms". Billboard.
- ^ "Gene Autry - Here Comes Santa Claus". Discogs. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ^ "Top 100 Sides." The Billboard, vol. 69, no. 53, December 30, 1957, p. 34.
- ^ "Top 10 Best-selling Songs of All Time - All Top Everything". 2 April 2023.
- ^ "Rewinding the Charts: In 1942, Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' Reigned at No. 1". Billboard.
- ^ "White Christmas by Bing Crosby - Songfacts".